gaiastorylinefandomcom-20200215-history
Zhivago
|species = Vampire |gender = Male |status = Alive |aliases = The Sniper |alignment = Antagonistic |citizenship = Central (Durem), Russia(?) |marital status = Single |occupation= Kuro Gang consigliere, hitman(?), Von Helson lieutenant (former), sniper (former) |affiliation = Kuro Gang Von Helsons (former) |base of operations = Durem Underground Dead Man's Pass |first = ''The Masque'' #03 April Fools '05 (April 1, 2005) |last = ''The Airship Saga'' #31 Future (March 5?, 2017) }}Zhivago is the current Consigliere of the Kuro crime family, serving as Cordell Kuro's lieutenant after the death of Luca Kuro; he is also an infamous (ex-?)hitman and formerly served as lieutenant to the late Vladimir Von Helson. He was introduced as The Sniper and''' rose to infamy through the highly skilled yet unidentified assassinations and shootings he performed. He has been a major recurring antagonist since. Appearance Zhivago is a vampire of average to above-average height and an out of shape but muscular physique. After the events of Bloodlines, he is missing his right arm from the shoulder down. On the left side of his face, he has two large scars that resemble lightning bolts, one starting at his jaw and ending at the corner of his eye and the other starting above his brow and ending past his hairline. As of Beast, he also has scars in the form of large claw marks across his stomach and chest. His scars appear relatively recent of how long ago he received them. He has large fangs and long, sharp fingernails which he only consistently shortens when wearing gloves or meeting with someone. He has thick, wild white hair that goes down to his back and hooded eyes ringed with dark circles. At various points his eyes change color, the whites turning black and the gray glowing golden. This is most conclusively linked to strong feelings of violence and does not appear to be actively under his control, as they are slow to return to normal even during moments of lucidity. Zhivago exhibits these changes more commonly than any other vampire. Zhivago's signature attire consists of a black Italian business suit, black shirt, red tie, and bell-bottom slacks. It's rare for him to be seen in anything else. Personality His interactions with others also suggest he scripts or rehearses his actions in some way. This is best seen during scenes where he personally antagonizes his targets, where he nearly always performs some kind of unnecessary but clearly premeditated action for its own sake. He has moderate to extreme difficulty adapting to any significant divergence from these "scripts," either reacting in a hastily improvised manner, having an abnormally delayed reaction, or in some cases having no reaction at all. In an interpersonal setting this is best seen in Loyalty. He abruptly stands up, closes distance, and grabs Cordell's arm to get her attention, and despite her very clear objection, proceeds as if she said yes. It can also be seen later in the same issue, where he assumes Cordell would offer to "talk Don out of it" despite her never saying anything to that effect. Despite evidence that he views vampires as superior to others, he still views himself as superior to other vampires. He actively dislikes fraternizing with them and refers to them casually and with disdain, some of which, considering Lone Wolf and the context around it, is likely influenced by his notions of what a "real vampire" should be. In spite of his unwillingness to interact with them, however, he displays an accurate (if uncomplicated) awareness of the common sentiments of the vampire populace, best shown in ''Loyalty'' and further confirmed by his former status as lieutenant in the Von Helson faction. History Very little is known of Zhivago's past prior to his time with the Von Helsons—however, what is known strongly suggests a Russian background and advanced military experience and training, particularly in espionage. Given the Von Helson family were tasked with defending Durem's West Wall and Vladimir Von Helson's involvement in suspicious circumstances, it would be no surprise a man of this kind of background ended up in the position of Vladimir's lieutenant. Zhivago as a lieutenant proved dutiful and reserved, if outspoken, with a mindset that was straightforward to an extreme. He opposed Vladimir's plans for an heir, to manipulate Rosalie into marrying him and having his children, simply because he believed it would have been "less complicated" to "choose any orphan off the street" and bend his will to create an heir. He later also opposed keeping Rosalie there against her will after she had Ian and Louie, although he most likely never voiced his dissent strongly. During the Von Helson children's childhood, Zhivago lived at the House on the Hill in Dead Man's Pass away from the Von Helson mansion. He didn't care for Louie and actively disliked Ian, referring to him as a "sullen little ninny." Hardware Weapons * '''Rifle: Zhivago's debut rifle as the Sniper. Though it doesn't have any real-life counterpart, its size, silhouette, ammunition, and muzzle blast indicate a silenced Soviet anti-materiel rifle mounted with a red-illuminated Special Purpose Reticle (SPR) scope.SDPlus #016 The Sniper This suggests but doesn't confirm military experience with firearms, as the main advantage apart from sheer firepower is the tactical ability to engage targets at any range that the scope enables. While the rifle itself would be an impractical choice for what it is used for due to its weight and recoil, he carries and handles it with ease. His superhuman ability to absorb impact seemingly extends to recoil as well, as he fires the rifle in a standing position twice, once while on a precarious ledge. It is possible he had no other choice due to the height and distance Equipment * Grappling gun: The grappling gun is exclusive to MMVII: Fight or Flight. It resembles a large scoped pistol and has a high firing velocity and middling range. The hook itself has three serrated claws and appears to take up a significant amount of the bulk of the gun. The gun likely has some sort of retractive device (possibly an ascension device) that holds the cable taut. * Binoculars: Powerful long range night-vision binoculars. Otherwise fairly ordinary. Utilized in Convergence and MMVII: Fight or Flight. Trivia * Zhivago is a masculine Russian name. It can be translated to life ''or perhaps ''lively or animated, ''ironic for an assassin of his demeanor. * The rifle Zhivago uses during his first and second appearances features as the ''Assassin's Executioner in the January 2008 Monthly Collectible, Assassin's Guise.Assassin's Guise * As the Sniper, he sparked endless amounts of both fan and in-universe speculation as to his identity and was the inspiration for both the long-running GCD Sniper Game and The Sniper's Game. * Prior to losing his arm, Zhivago was most likely both right-handed and right eye dominant—he always aligned his aim to his right eye and used his right hand whenever he handled weaponry, although he did use his left hand for trivial tasks. * Zhivago is one of the only characters in the Manga to have * The OMGWTF's interest in sudoku and talk radio suggests that Zhivago either has an interest in sudoku and talk radio himself or provided it the means to partake. * Although his suits between appearances may appear identical, there are actually slight variations between the jackets, most drastically in Lone Wolf. The jacket has pockets and a notched lapel, and was an English cut as opposed to his usual hybrid English/Italian. He also sometimes wears pleated slacks instead of his usual bellbottoms. * He shares multiple lines of dialogue with Cresento nearly verbatim despite never meeting him. * His depiction in MMVII, as with many of the other characters, has several inaccuracies: his scars are completely missing, his eyes are brown with circular pupils, and his his fangs look more like regular canines. * Certain depictions of him suggest he occasionally wears smudged dark eyeliner. * Zhivago's character designer, Saka, on Zhivago: * Anime Expo 2007 Gaia Panel speaker, on Zhivago: Notes References